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<title>Untitled (Perfect Lovers)/Clocks, Paint on Wall/35.6 X 71.2 X 7 cm/Felix Gonzalez-Torres/1991 by bijective</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27193288">Untitled (Perfect Lovers)/Clocks, Paint on Wall/35.6 X 71.2 X 7 cm/Felix Gonzalez-Torres/1991</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bijective/pseuds/bijective'>bijective</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Art throughout the ages: Real and Imaginary [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 16:28:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>422</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27193288</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bijective/pseuds/bijective</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Joe and Nicky in Malta, turn of the millennia. Time has been very generous to them.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Art throughout the ages: Real and Imaginary [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1908658</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Untitled (Perfect Lovers)/Clocks, Paint on Wall/35.6 X 71.2 X 7 cm/Felix Gonzalez-Torres/1991</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Almost a decade after its first exhibition in New York, Joe is able to put <em>Untitled (Perfect Lovers)</em> above the mantle of the fireplace in their house in Malta. He had bought the certificate of authentication under the alias of Joseph Jones, a German businessman with a keen eye for the arts.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Malta house, that Andy had christened rather rudely as ‘Joe and Nicky’s Love Shack’ was not a part of their rotating list of safe houses. Instead it was Yusuf’s and Nicolo’s home. It was a beach front cottage with the surrounding land having been bought under several different shell companies (such as the Typewriter Ecologics) and aliases (Nicolas Smith ). Built in the late 16th century it was a combination of medieval, modern and with the recent renovations contemporary. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Now as Joe and Nicky made their way up the stone steps of the house to celebrate the turn of thecentury and their first turn of the millennium. Andy had decided to disappear somewhere (to the vast Atlantic searching for Quynh), so had Booker (into the bowels of Paris). </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“We are home!” Exclaimed Joe, taking in a whiff of the air. The people they had hired a week back to check the clean up the house had done a fantastic job. Still the house was very empty. Much of their treasures had been locked away in the basement. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“So we are. Lets put away our luggage and get cle… Joe!” Nicky gasped out, his sentence interrupted by Joe picking him up by his waist and enthusiastically twirling him in their living room.Nicky laughed and dropped a kiss on Joe’s curls.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joe grinned at him and put him down. “My love, I have an even better idea.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Nicky tilted his head, silently asking him to continue. Joe responded by placing two lip smacking kisses on his cheeks. He stepped backwards, rubbing both hands with glee. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joe strode up to one of the boxes that had been delivered before their arrival. He made quick work of it, stripping bubble wrap. Nicky slowly approached him from behind looking quizzically as Joe unwrapped two clocks.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“What… Joe…?”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Perfect Lovers.” Joe replied, his smile a lot sober and his eyes warm.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Shall we put it up together?”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Yes.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Hunting down the electric drill takes them a few minutes. It takes them another few minutes two fit two nails up above the fireplace.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“On the count of three?”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“1”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“2”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“3”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Together they slide the clocks in place. Together they watch the clocks tick on.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Felix Gonzalez-Torres was a gay conceptual artist who created Untitled (Perfect Lovers) after his partner was diagnosed with AIDS. </p><p>It is accompanied by the following:</p><p>Lovers, 1988</p><p>Don't be afraid of the clocks, they are our time, time has been so generous to us. We imprinted time with the sweet taste of victory. We conquered fate by meeting at a certain TIME in a certain space. We are a product of the time, therefore we give back credit where it is due: time. </p><p>We are synchronized, now and forever. </p><p>I love you.</p><p>https://www.moma.org/collection/works/81074</p></blockquote></div></div>
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